Amid soaring rates of chronic absenteeism nationwide, Roseville City School District in California has achieved remarkable success by reimagining how they approach student attendance.
From fragmented to focused on chronic absenteeism
The district’s journey began with sobering data: chronic absenteeism had spiked to 26% post-pandemic, a better average than many districts, but still cause for concern. Like many districts, they faced fragmented tracking systems, inconsistent family communication and limited visibility into attendance patterns.
Their transformation started by implementing a comprehensive attendance management system that provided real-time, actionable data. But technology alone wasn’t the answer. The real breakthrough came from using this data to drive systematic, supportive family engagement.
“Our process was inconsistent, and we were unable to intentionally support students based on data,” explains Erin Peterson, director of educational services. “We had no way to quickly see who hasn’t been at school, what their attendance trends were, or what patterns existed.”
As an early step, they launched an “Every Day Matters” campaign, automating weekly attendance letters and deploying data-driven, personalized outreach. The breakthrough came when they used this data to identify specific trouble spots—like lower attendance on Mondays and Fridays—and created targeted interventions, including special events and recognition programs on these typically low-attendance days.
“Our process shifted from reactive to proactive,” Peterson shared.
Creating a culture of belonging and connection
One critical insight from Roseville’s data analysis was the connection between student belonging and attendance. All 21 school sites have been recognized with California PBIS awards for fostering positive school cultures where students feel connected and want to attend. This focus on relationships underpins their entire attendance strategy.
Jessica Hull, executive director of communication and community engagement, led the “Every Day Matters” comprehensive campaign. It included family education about the importance of attendance, weekly social media posts supporting attendance, an “Every Day Matters” webpage with school and community resources, and targeted messages to all district staff with specific collaboration between counselors.
The campaign maintained consistent messaging across all 21 school sites, fostering a district-wide culture where attendance is valued.
More from DA: The 10 best—and worst—states for teacher salaries
When reviewing their dashboard data together, school leaders noticed patterns not just in which students were missing school, but when. “Many sites started adding raffles and incentives specifically for being at school on Fridays and Mondays after noticing lower attendance rates on these days,” Peterson explained.
This targeted approach shows how data can inform precise interventions that address specific attendance challenges.
Direct teacher involvement proved especially powerful. During staff meetings, principals allocated time for teachers to write personalized postcards to students in the “manageable” attendance category—those at risk but not yet chronically absent. These personal touches helped families feel supported rather than judged, reinforcing the message that the school genuinely cared about their child’s presence.
Tailoring approaches to different grade levels
Recognizing that attendance barriers vary by age, Roseville tailored its interventions to specific grade bands. “Based on our data trends, year two focused the campaign on supporting our early learners TK-2,” Peterson noted.
During parent-teacher conferences, teachers shared carefully designed materials highlighting the critical learning milestones in these foundational years and how they’re impacted by attendance.
The district also implemented a structured process for identifying and supporting at-risk students. Site teams used a standard template to create action plans for two distinct groups: students who were chronically absent the previous year and showing similar patterns again, and students newly at risk for chronic absenteeism.
This tiered approach allowed for targeted interventions, with many teams personally reaching out to families and coordinating with teachers to proactively attend parent-teacher conferences for these students.
For middle grades, where a sense of belonging strongly influences attendance, Roseville developed strategies focused on school climate and peer connections. This differentiated approach acknowledges that what works for a kindergartner may not work for a seventh grader.
Measurable results across all student groups
The results speak volumes: chronic absenteeism dropped to 7.75% district-wide—a 43% reduction in just two years. These improvements occurred across all demographic groups, with English Language Learners seeing chronic absenteeism fall from 13% to 7%.
The scale of their communication effort was impressive: over 15,000 parent communication pieces were sent, including more than 11,600 attendance notifications and 12,300 positive communications.
Key to this success was their efficiency-focused approach. The district achieved a remarkable 57% “SaveRate,” defined as students who received an initial attendance notification and did not accrue additional absences requiring further intervention. In other words, most families responded to the very first outreach.
The three-pronged strategy included:
- Early identification through daily data monitoring
- Consistent, supportive communication with families
- Data-informed attendance conferences that led to a 49% attendance improvement post-meeting
This last metric is particularly striking—when comparing the six weeks before and after attendance conferences, student attendance improved by nearly 50%. This demonstrates the power of supportive, solution-focused conversations with families.
A recent survey of 1000+ K-12 educators and administrators revealed that 81% of educators believe targeted family engagement strategies significantly reduce chronic absenteeism, yet only 37% of schools regularly communicate about attendance importance.
Education over enforcement
What’s particularly striking about Roseville’s approach is how the district transformed attendance conversations from punitive to supportive. Rather than traditional truancy letters that focus on legal consequences, Roseville created visual “road maps” explaining the attendance process to families and distributed them during parent-teacher conferences.
These materials included a glossary of attendance terms and clear explanations of the support process. They also developed grade-specific materials highlighting what students learn in each grade and how missing school impacts specific developmental milestones, with a particular focus on TK-2 learning guides that illustrated the connection between attendance and reading proficiency.
This focus on education rather than enforcement has been crucial. As one school leader noted during a staff meeting, teachers were encouraged to write personal postcards to students in the “manageable” attendance category. These personal touches helped families feel supported rather than judged, reinforcing the message that the school genuinely cared about their child’s presence.
The district’s work has paid off beyond just attendance numbers. All 21 school sites have been recognized with California PBIS awards for fostering positive school cultures where students feel connected and want to attend.
The lesson from Roseville is clear and backed by research: schools with stronger family engagement before the pandemic experienced 39% smaller increases in chronic absenteeism afterward, according to Learning Heroes and TNTP. This impact was comparable to spending more time in person versus remote learning.
